The U.S. Department of Education is trying another avenue to shutter Equity Assistance Centers nationwide after the Trump administration's previous failed attempts — and despite a court order temporarily requiring its continuation in at least one region of the nation. It is also considering transferring related services to the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a notice posted in the federal register on June 25.
Equity Assistance Centers, or EACs, were established under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were originally called Desegregation Assistance Centers. They provide technical assistance and training to schools, districts and school boards to “address education issues occasioned by school desegregation,” such as harassment, bullying and prejudice, according to the Education Department website.
The centers also help districts interpret data to identify disparities and to address those disparities through efforts like professional development for teachers. There are four centers nationwide.
The June proposal would eliminate the program.
"When this program was initially authorized, there was a significant need among school boards, districts, states, and other recipients for support related to desegregation orders," the Education Department said in its notice. The department said it believes "there is not a need for the program to operate in the same regionally distributed way that the regulations require and that there is an opportunity to explore other means of service delivery that address these varied needs in a more flexible manner."
In fiscal year 2022, EACs provided targeted and intensive assistance to 24 state education agencies, 222 districts, and 145 schools across 46 states and territories, according to the Education Department. During that budget period, the program accepted 96% of the requests for assistance that were received.
However, the department said those numbers indicate "there may be less demand for service currently compared to when the program was initially authorized" when compared to the 6,223 requests for help the centers reportedly received in 1969."
"That does not show lack of need," Kathleen Thorius, one critic of the proposal, said in public comments. "It shows national reach, substantial demand, and functioning capacity."
Previous efforts to close EACs
Equity Assistance Centers received nearly $7 million in Fiscal Year 2024. Since President Donald Trump entered his second term, the administration has repeatedly sought to zero out or delay their funding, as well as close the centers.
In his budget requests for both fiscal years 2026 and 2027, Trump proposed cutting all the centers' funding.
A lawsuit filed by the NAACP attempting to undo the rollbacks said that the administration closed all four centers nationwide on Feb. 13, 2025. That lawsuit is in the midst of a settlement agreement process, according to a June 29 update.
That was one of at least two lawsuits challenging the administration’s decision to terminate EACs.
Another, filed by the Southern Education Foundation, which operates the Southern region of the Equity Assistance Center program, also challenged the administration's decisions. That foundation's grant was temporarily reinstated by the Education Department after a court order in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was ultimately dropped by the Southern Education Foundation after its EAC grant was reinstated.
Justice Department lifts desegregation orders
The department also said in its June proposal it is considering reallocating EAC's efforts to the Department of Justice, referencing its existing interagency agreement with the DOJ. The Education Department last month moved many of its civil rights enforcement operations to the Justice Department as part of that agreement.
The Education Department said it “believes this proposed rescission will provide greater flexibility to both departments to determine the best approaches to service delivery that will improve the support provided to eligible recipients and improve students' access to a high-quality education.”
The Justice Department under the second Trump administration has lifted multiple desegregation orders, in states including Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
In the Louisiana case, the department said lifting Plaquemines Parish School Board's order had "righted a historical wrong, freeing the local school district of federal oversight" and that the Louisiana school board would no longer “have to devote precious local resources over an integration issue that ended two generations ago.”
The administration's undoing of civil rights infrastructure comes as a number of studies show segregation in U.S. schools is increasing.
A 2024 report from researchers at Stanford Graduate School of Education and University of Southern California found racial and economic segregation in large school districts has grown steadily over the past three decades. That increase appeared to be driven partly by policies favoring school choice over integration, researchers said.
The report analyzed data from U.S. public schools as far back as 1967, finding that segregation between White and Black students increased by 64% since 1988 in the 100 largest districts, and segregation by economic status rose by about 50% since 1991.
Another report released by Brown's Promise and The Segregation Tracking Project, using 2023-24 school year data, showed that states with the most racially segregated schools are:
- New York
- Illinois
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Rhode Island
- New Jersey
- Missouri
- Maryland
"This data clearly maps the nation’s school segregation problem and represents both a moment of reckoning and a window of opportunity,” said Brown’s Promise co-founder Ary Amerikaner in a statement. "Segregated schools are the result of deliberate policy decisions."
The public comment period for the Education Department's proposed rule to shut down Equity Assistance Centers closes July 27.
